Well you're going to get a whole variety of responses to this one ... and you'll probably have to try out a few washing routines to figure out what works for you.
Around here we use a dry pail and all I do is every 2-3 days I dump whatever is in the pail into the washer ... this usually includes all of Sahara's fitted diapers (be they hemp or cotton), all her PUL diaper covers and all her fleece pockets ... if they've been sitting in the pail for 3 days I usually run them through a cold rinse before starting the wash cycle ...but if it's only the second day I don't bother. Then I run them through a full wash with HOT water and a tiny bit of Tide free (and I mean TINY!!! ...maybe 2 tablespoons at the most) ...then an extra rinse to get rid of any soap residue. That's pretty much our wash routine though there are exceptions ... sometimes the fleece pockets get a build up on them or the hemp starts to hold odours so I wind up pouring a couple cups of vinegar vinegar into the initial rinse before they get washed.
Wool is a special item ... and it depends what type of wool you've got ... whether it's been felted (washed on HOT so it's preshrunk and the fibers are squished together) or not ... most of the hand knit soakers out there are NOT felted so they need to be hand washed when they start to smell or get poop on them. Covers made with wool jersey/interlock that is already felted can also be handwashed if you wish (and will probably require less lanolizing if you do) or you can do as I do and just throw them in the wash when they need washing and either hang to dry or dry with everything else as well (this makes them need to be lanolized more frequently though). Lanolizing wool involves dissolving lanolin in warm water and dunking your cover so that the lanoling gets into the wool waterproofing it.
There is a lot to know ...but don't worry ...there's very little you can do wrong and a way to fix just about everything ... my only concern really would be the covers ...just read the instructions for them specifically as some lose their waterproofing if dried in the drier but can still be washed with everything else.
Blessings
Jes
Around here we use a dry pail and all I do is every 2-3 days I dump whatever is in the pail into the washer ... this usually includes all of Sahara's fitted diapers (be they hemp or cotton), all her PUL diaper covers and all her fleece pockets ... if they've been sitting in the pail for 3 days I usually run them through a cold rinse before starting the wash cycle ...but if it's only the second day I don't bother. Then I run them through a full wash with HOT water and a tiny bit of Tide free (and I mean TINY!!! ...maybe 2 tablespoons at the most) ...then an extra rinse to get rid of any soap residue. That's pretty much our wash routine though there are exceptions ... sometimes the fleece pockets get a build up on them or the hemp starts to hold odours so I wind up pouring a couple cups of vinegar vinegar into the initial rinse before they get washed.
Wool is a special item ... and it depends what type of wool you've got ... whether it's been felted (washed on HOT so it's preshrunk and the fibers are squished together) or not ... most of the hand knit soakers out there are NOT felted so they need to be hand washed when they start to smell or get poop on them. Covers made with wool jersey/interlock that is already felted can also be handwashed if you wish (and will probably require less lanolizing if you do) or you can do as I do and just throw them in the wash when they need washing and either hang to dry or dry with everything else as well (this makes them need to be lanolized more frequently though). Lanolizing wool involves dissolving lanolin in warm water and dunking your cover so that the lanoling gets into the wool waterproofing it.
There is a lot to know ...but don't worry ...there's very little you can do wrong and a way to fix just about everything ... my only concern really would be the covers ...just read the instructions for them specifically as some lose their waterproofing if dried in the drier but can still be washed with everything else.
Blessings
Jes
